The Red-Blue Wars

One way the U.S. of A. can be separated into factions is illustrated by the map of election results from the 2000 mess between Gore and Bush. This infamous map colored the counties Bush won in red and the counties Gore won in blue, dividing the nation into a chunky, rural red zone of rabid Republicans and a stringy, urban blue zone of deranged Democrats. Were the two zones to go to war, the ensuing catastrophe would resemble China's Great Cultural Revolution or the Religious Wars of Reformation-era Europe. Such a religious or class-based war would be ugly indeed - with mob-killings, persecution of disliked professions, and mass forced relocations from cities and/or farmlands.

If you're worried about the possibility, you might want to understand the two zones better, so a handy table follows. But there probably won't be a War between the Red Zone and the Blue Zone - not a shooting one, anyway. The vehement animosity between the two camps is a consequence of the character of today's adult generations, the know-it-all Baby Boomers and the whiny Generation X. The generation coming of age will reject the quarrelsome habits of their elders and call a truce in the Culture Wars. Ultimately, the conflicting values of these two halves of America will be merged into a new values norm for America's next saeculum.

	Red Zone	Blue Zone
Politics	Conservative right	Liberal left
	Generally pro-business, anti-governement, but... ...supports local government enforcing moral codes. ...fears Big Business and Big Government when controlled by the blue zone.	Generally pro-government, anti-business, but... ...supports small business when its heart is in the right place. ...fears Big Business and Big Government when controlled by the red zone.
	Nationalist	Internationalist
	Capitalist	Socialist
	Pro-Israeli	Pro-Palestinian
	Pro-military	Pro-welfare
	Pro-life	Pro-choice
	Supports right to bear arms.	Supports gun control.
	Supports death penalty.	Opposes death penalty.
	Thinks the blue zone has too much power and fears imminent takeover.	Thinks the red zone has too much power and fears imminent takeover.

Religion	Christian	Atheist, Pagan, New Age, Jewish
	Believes humans have dominion over nature.	Believes humans must live in balance with ecological systems.
	Waiting for the Second Coming.	Waiting for the aliens.

Morality	Supports chastity, marriage, traditional family life.	Supports diverse sexual lifestyles, including premarital sex, homosexuality, and promiscuity.
	Opposes drugs, pornography, gambling in theory. Supports drinking, tobacco and fast food.	Supports drinking, drugs, pornography, gambling as rights. Opposes tobacco and fast food.

Culture	Country music, cowboy hats, suits and ties, SUVs with American flag bumper stickers	Alternative rock, piercings, T-shirts and sandals, Volvos with "Save the Earth" bumper stickers

Media	Talk radio, Internet	Cable TV, Hollywood

Worst Example	White supremacists	Eco-terrorists

Spokespersons	Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh	Michael Moore, Rosie O'Donnell

Comic Strip	Mallard Fillmore	Doonesbury

Web Site	Free Republic	Democratic Underground
How will these two zones merge into one, and a new definition emerge of the values of an ordinary American? There's no way to be sure, but one can always make a prediction. Alternately, one could speculate that the rift can never be healed, and that the country will be split in two.

Like to fantasize about the break-up of the United States? Try these scenarios.
Give Me Liberty	E Unus Pluribum
DMZ	End of a Nation-State